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Cameroon, Congo & DRC Takes Major Steps to Foster Bitcoin And Crypto Adoption In their Countries

Mark Brennan
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Cameroon, Congo & DRC Takes Major Steps to Foster Bitcoin And Crypto Adoption In their Countries

More nations are looking to tap into the opportunities associated with cryptocurrencies to boost their economies.



Three African countries, including Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the Republic of the Congo, have declared their intention to adopt Bitcoin and cryptocurrency and blockchain-based solutions, to foster the growth of their economies. 

Per a press release shared today, the three African nations are eyeing the Layer-1 proof-of-stake blockchain, The Open Network (TON), as the leading technology to enable their vision to become a reality. 

Previous Relationships with TON

Prior to the announcement, the trio had tapped TON independently for a number of initiatives in a bid to deliver useful cryptocurrency and blockchain solutions. 

So far, the engagements have yielded positive results and the African countries are committed to enhancing their relationships with the network, as part of efforts to boost their economies in the near future. 

Reactions to the Upcoming Partnerships

“This marks the beginning of our journey to adopting cryptocurrency as a financial instrument within the DRC, and with the support of TON as a partner we aim to increase our nation’s exposure to modern financial tools,” Désiré Cashmir Eberande Kolongele, the DRC Minister for Digital Economy, said. 

Aside from providing basic financial services for the unbanked and underbanked populace of the DRC populace, the country is also considering partnering with a TON to develop a national stable coin to facilitate payments.  

Both Cameroon and Congolese ministries of telecommunications also commented on the importance of the partnership to their economies, as they stressed that the collaboration will foster financial inclusion for their citizens. 

“There is unbounded potential for these three countries to benefit from the adoption of cryptocurrency with our blockchain as the foundation. It’s fantastic that TON’s value is recognized in terms of its technology and utility,” Steven Yun, Founding Member of TON Foundation, said. 

The Unending Benefits of Cryptos Toward World Economies Growth

The importance of cryptocurrency and blockchain payment solutions for the growth of world economies cannot be overemphasized. 

Cryptocurrencies are tipped to provide financial solutions to underdeveloped and developing countries, which have a majority of their citizens denied access to basic financial services. 

For instance, in 2019, only about 12.4 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo have access to basic financial services, whereas over 40 million adults have smartphones and access to the internet in the country. 

These shortcomings highlight the need for cryptocurrency adoption in the country, as the majority of people who have access to the internet can also conduct financial services using digital currencies. 

El Salvador Leads Countries’ Crypto Adoption

Last year, El Salvador announced its adoption of Bitcoin as a legal tender. 

Even though El Salvador’s Bitcoin move has been heavily criticized, the country has stood behind its decision and has embarked on numerous Bitcoin accumulation sprees. 

New York City ‘myGemma’ Becomes First Online Luxury Resale Platform To Accept Bitcoin and Ethereum As Payment 

Mark Brennan
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New York City ‘myGemma’ Becomes First Online Luxury Resale Platform To Accept Bitcoin and Ethereum As Payment 

Online Luxury Retailer myGemma Accepts Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) Payments For Its Designer Fashion Products.



A number of top brands accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum payments soar.

myGemma, the luxury resale site, based in New York City, is the first in its industry to accept cryptocurrency as payment.

myGemma has become the first luxury resale platform to accept bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) payments for its designer jewelry, bags, watches, sneakers, etc.

According to an announcement today, the move is imperative to expand the company’s client base to onboard cryptocurrency users, who have been looking for new ways to spend the digital currencies. 

Andrew Brown, the CEO of myGemma stated that the luxury resale platform’s mission is deeply rooted in sustainability, with the company’s focus on keeping products out of landfills and giving them an extended life. 

“So naturally we continue to listen to our customers and adopt new movements ahead of the curve. Crypto users are among the many constituents of luxury consumers. We want to cater to this growing consumer base as cryptocurrency becomes more mainstream,” Brown added.

 

In recent times, there has been a growing demand for several luxury brands to accept crypto payments, as the asset class becomes increasingly popular. 

Firms that refuse to accept cryptocurrency payments lose many of their customers to their competitors who are quick to integrate the nascent asset class into payments. 

Top luxury brands like Hublot are not prepared to lose their clients as they have added cryptocurrencies to their payment methods. 

With Hublot accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum payments, myGemma noted that it is only natural that it joins the popular wristwatch developer. 

As Price Dips, Shiba Inu Becomes Top Purchased Token And Most Held Coin By Whales

Zabi
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As Price Dips, Shiba Inu Becomes Top Purchased Token And Most Held Coin By Whales

Top Ethereum (ETH) Whales are interested in accumulating Shiba Inu (SHIB) token once again.



During the last 24 hours, the popular dog-themed currency seems to get back on Whales’ radar and became one of the top purchased tokens among 5000 biggest ETH whales, as per data provided by blockchain data tracking website WhaleStats.

According to the data, the top 5000 ETH whales have accumulated 9,132,897 (9.13M) SHIB on average.

This development also leads SHIB to become the top token holding position by dollar value among the top 5000 biggest ETH whales, now holding $1,477,868,151 (1.477B) worth of SHIB.

While looking into the top 100 ETH wallets data for the past 24 hours, SHIB appears to be the 8th most accumulated token, and these biggest wallets have added 234,813,442 (234.81M) tokens to their portfolio on average.

Besides accumulation, the burning of SHIB tokens has also gained momentum. As per our recent report, over 1.99 billion Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens have been taken out of circulation within the last seven days, and over 185.39 million SHIB during the previous 24 hours.

The massive accumulation among whales and the whopping number of burn transactions are good signs, but the current circulating supply of 549 trillion tokens may cap the potential growth in the near term.

At the time of writing, Shiba Inu is trading at $0.00002426, down -1.51% over the last day. A 24-hour trading volume for the popular dog-themed cryptocurrency is up 19.83% compared to the previous day and currently stands at $639,881,749 ($639.88M).

Copper Hires Bank Of America Execs to Build Prime Brokerage Platform for Institutional Investors

Albert Brown
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Copper Hires Bank Of America Execs to Build Prime Brokerage Platform for Institutional Investors

Copper Hires BofA Execs to Build Prime Brokerage Platform for Institutional Investors.



London-based crypto custodian Copper is making its services more accessible to institutional investors by building prime brokerage platforms. In line with this, the custodial services provider is hiring executives from the bank of America to help develop the platforms.

The project will be led by Michael Roberts, who will be joining the firm directly from the Bank of America. Other team members will be Adam Groom and Paul Barham (also from the Bank of America), Ben Carr, and Ross Budgen. 

Michael Roberts has many years of experience in prime brokerage platforms at the Bank of America. Up until now, he was the “head of the bank’s prime brokerage platform for Europe, Middle East, and Africa region.”

Moving to trade away from exchanges 

These days, many crypto firms seek to provide prime brokerage in cryptocurrencies as the number of institutional investors entering the space continues to rise.

“There’s not a single sell-side institution on the planet, or at least in the top 20, that is not working on something in digital assets,” Copper CEO Dmitry Tokarev said. 

They are unable to provide real prime brokerages, though, as they still need to buy crypto from exchanges to trade.

Copper intends to set a record by providing a prime brokerage platform that eliminates the need for exchanges. In light of this, the firm launched ClearLoop, a digital asset custodian that “connects the universe of custodians and exchanges in one secure trading loop with real-time settlement across the network” in 2020.

As a digital asset custodian, Copper is relentlessly working on securing full regulatory approval from U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority and Switzerland. It is also working on its subsequent funding round, which will raise its value to about $3 billion if successful.

Making crypto more reliable 

Although institutional investors are developing unprecedented appetites for digital assets, not all are comfortable with crypto trading platforms, unlike the traditional exchanges they are used to. 

Copper’s efforts to remove the need for such exchanges are likely to secure investors’ confidence and make the crypto space more reliable in the future.

Number of Ethereum on Non-Exchange Addresses Surges as Investors Bank on ETH Despite Price Drop

Albert Brown
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Number of Ethereum on Non-Exchange Addresses Surges as Investors Bank on ETH Despite Price Drop

Number of Ethereum on Non-Exchange Addresses Surge.



The number of Ethereum held on non-exchange addresses has surpassed the number of exchange addresses. Data from Santiment indicates that the gap between the two types of addresses has reached its widest in the history of the second-largest cryptocurrency. 

 

The data reveals that non-exchange addresses currently hold 3.93x more Ethereum than exchange addresses. This trend has been building up since October 2020, when the non-exchange address holdings surpassed that of exchange addresses for the first time in two years.

 

Investors are bullish on Ethereum despite the price decline.

There are few indicators of bullishness among investors, one of which is the amount of an asset held off exchanges. The more of an investment held off exchanges, the more it indicates that investors are bullish on the asset and they are not willing to sell it. This trend manifesting for Ethereum shows that investors are getting ready to hold their assets off exchanges for a long time.

Despite the recent price drop, which is market-wide but has affected Ethereum. The asset currently trades at $3,174 after dropping from a recent high of $3,525, but it has not deterred investors from holding the asset in anticipation of better days.

Apart from solid holding demand, data from the Kraken exchange also reveals that Ethereum monthly active users have increased by 22.5%. As a result, users increased from 7.2 million in January to 8.8 million. According to Kraken, the data shows increasing optimism in Ethereum after several months of the bearish signal.

kraken eth monthly activities

The Fear and Greed Index is neutral:

The Fear and Greed Index for Ethereum is currently at neutral. This further affirms the increasing confidence of investors as the asset is almost on the greed side, an indication of bullish sentiment.

 

Coupled with the other data, this indicates that investors are seriously considering Ethereum as a viable long-term investment in hopes of a coming rally.

Cardano-Based Clay Mates Officially Launches Over 20k Land Pitches NFTs With Snoop Dogg

Lele Jima
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Cardano-Based Clay Mates Officially Launches Over 20k Land Pitches NFTs With Snoop Dogg

Clay Mates Partners Snoop Dogg & Son to Give the Cardano Community Access to Over 20,000 Land Pitches NFTs.



Cardano-based non-fungible token (NFT) developer Clay Mates has announced its official collaboration with American hip hop star Snoop Dogg and his son Champ Medici to develop digital collectibles that will give holders access to mouthwatering incentives. 

According to Clay Mates, the partnership will bring iconic clay animations, land pitches, and unreleased music content from the Grammy Award winner. 

 

Following the development, Cardano and Clay Nation users can own land pitches in newly created areas in the Clay Verse, Sonic, Underworld, and Bake Nation. 

Land Allocation 

Per a comment shared by Clay Mates, of the available plots of land in the virtual reality project, a total of 19,500 land pitches in the Sonic and Underworld areas are reserved exclusively for Clay Nation holders, who are mainly members of the Cardano community. 

Similarly, the Clay Mates team also disclosed that it reserved another 1,500 pitches out of the 11,000 Baked Nation pitches for Clay Nation NFT holders. 

Unlike pitches in the Sonic and Underworld areas, the majority of land on Baked Nation is reserved for the public, in a bid to allow more people outside the Cardano ecosystem to join the Clay Nation community. 

“We allocated 19.5k lands for holders on a 1:1 basis (sonic and underworld) + 1500 baked – the majority of baked was public mint to welcome new people from beyond Cardano to Clay Nation, which in turn benefits holders as we grow,” Clay Mates said. 

Furthermore, Clay nation says that Approx 160 pitches minted in the last few minutes & catching up with the high demand to mint immediately despite the 24+ hour window.

Users’ Eligibility

Users are requested to check their eligibility on the Clay Nation eligibility platform. You will be required to enter your Cardano address in the box provided to enable the system to check your eligibility status.  

Once the user is eligible to purchase pitches in the Sonic and Underworld areas, you will be required to send 100 Cardano (ADA) to the Clay Mates’ address in order to claim the NFT. 

Eligible investors are allowed to claim up to 10 NFTs in one transaction. 

Clay Mates first teased people about the development earlier this month, which further extends Snoop Dogg’s foray into the world of non-fungible tokens. 

Ripple Lists Requirements to End SEC’s Legal Action Against the Company

Mark Brennan
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Ripple Lists Requirements to End SEC’s Legal Action Against the Company

Ripple’s Individual Defendants deny all charges and want the lawsuit dismissed in its favor.



Over the weekend, Ripple’s Individual Defendants, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, gave answers to the Security and Exchange Commission’s Amendment Complaint. 

The Ripple executives, as expected, denied all allegations leveled against them by the SEC because they lacked sufficient knowledge of the accusation, as the majority of their answers to the complaints read “no response is required.” 

Ripple’s Demands

Aside from denying the allegations filed by the SEC against them, the Individual Defendants listed four demands required to put an end to the more than a one-year lawsuit. 

According to Garlinghouse and Larsen, the court should dismiss the action against them as prejudice, a judge in favor of the Defendants against the SEC, and award both Individual Defendants money to offset their attorneys’ fees and other costs. 

Furthermore, the Individual Defendants urged the court to award them any other relief that it may deem fit based on the inconveniences caused by the lawsuit. 

Defendants Kick Against Trial By Jury 

With these demands, the Individual Defendants stated in their answers filed on Friday, April 8, 2022, that the Securities and Exchange Commission may want to demand a “trial by jury.” 

While the Individual Defendants acknowledged that the SEC is entitled to such a demand, the blockchain company requested that the court deny such a motion, as opting for a trial by jury would cause further delays, which would continue to hurt investors. 

The security regulator has been accused of employing delay tactics to frustrate Ripple into negotiating a settlement agreement in its favor. 

The SEC had requested for timeline extension to file motions, which have been frustrating to the defendants and continue to hurt the price of XRP. 

Ripple’s XRP, which was in a neck-to-neck battle with Ethereum (ETH) before the SEC charged the company for conducting an unregistered security offering, has fallen to the seventh spot based on a massive decline in its market valuation. 

Meanwhile, SEC’s former Director, Bill Hinman, whose emails the agency has tried to protect from being used in the lawsuit, has been accused of flouting direct orders during his time at the commission. 

With the SEC poised on protecting Hinman’s emails, it is evident that the agency is aware of his conflict of interest, which will be discovered by the court and Ripple if tendered. 

XRP Price Looking Bearish

Unfortunately, XRP is still far from crossing $0.9 recorded last month despite the favorable development. 

At press time, XRP was down 3.3% in the last 24 hours and trading around $0.74. With the coin’s current price, XRP has fallen below its first major support level at $0.7472. 

However, with broader market sentiment, the price of XRP could top $0.75. 

Veteran Trader Peter Brandt Agrees To Bitcoin Accumulation Phase, Also Suggests A Breakout

Albert Brown
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Veteran Trader Peter Brandt Agrees To Bitcoin Accumulation Phase, Also Suggests A Breakout

Veteran Trader Peter Brandt Agrees To Bitcoin Accumulation Phase.



One of the most exciting things about Bitcoin is that it operates in cycles, leaving patterns for analysts to read. After hitting a new all-time high in Q4 2021, the top digital asset entered a new cycle phase – the accumulation phase.

Blockwise, a platform that provides on-chain metrics for Bitcoin, wrote in a tweet that Bitcoin goes through two phases after every “macro top,” like the over $60,000 that Bitcoin reached in 2021. The top crypto trader Peter Brandt agrees with this analysis which shows that Bitcoin is in the accumulation phase now.

According to the above stats, Bitcoin takes two years in the accumulation phase before making new highs. Brandt agrees that BTC is in the accumulation phase and will enter the rocket stage in 2024.

According to Peter Brandt:

“The past two times BTC advanced 10X or more required an average of 33 months before the next stage of the rocket kicked in. If history repeats itself (which I do not believe it will), the next rocket stage will be ignited in May 2024.”

Bitcoin approaching floor price

According to Blockwise, Bitcoin has entered an accumulation phase nearly six months into it. This phase usually lasts approximately two years, but the first six months mark a floor price, a trend that has existed since 2014.

Bitcoin could be approaching this price now as it reaches nearly six months into the two-year accumulation phase in 2022.

Another analyst, PlanC, confirms this with his Accumulation Phase Floor Confirmation Cross. He says that the floor price of the accumulation phases came within 0-29 days of the last three crosses.

 

During these times, Bitcoin’s price dropped to its Confluence Floor Model price, which currently sits at $27,681. The model also shows that the cross already occurred 38 days ago, which means the floor price is long overdue. This may be indicating a shift from the trend, suggesting there will be no price drop this time, or the floor price may come much later than usual.

Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index confirms accumulation.

The Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index shows the dominant sentiment in the market concerning the asset at any point in time. Most investors are skeptical when there is fear because the price doesn’t look “promising.” 

 

For smart investors, Mostly whales, this is usually the best time to accumulate, which whales are busy buying and holding BTC as price dips in the accumulation phase.

Shibarium Developer ‘Unification’ Provides More Updates On Shiba Inu’s Shibarium

Lele Jima
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Shibarium Developer ‘Unification’ Provides More Updates On Shiba Inu’s Shibarium

Shiba Inu’s Shibarium Network Public Testnet to Launch This Year.



The public TestNet of Shiba Inu (SHIB) blockchain network, Shibarium, is close to going live. 

Unification, the team Shiba Inu partnered with for the Shibarium project, noted in a Medium post today that the public testnet for Shibarium will be launched within the “next months,” which will be subsequently followed by a public beta. 

No Date Given

While many Shiba Inu enthusiasts would love an official announcement of a timeline for the public testnet, the Unification team has failed to give an exact date when the project will go live. 

According to Unification, it isn’t easy to associate a definite timeline to the launch of Shibarium because of the scope and size of the layer-2 blockchain. 

However, with constant updates about the project, the network is expected to launch this year. 

While many enthusiasts may feel frustrated with the lack of decisive communication from the Shiba Inu and Unification team about the project, Unification noted that a lot of work is being conducted in the background to ensure that the Ethereum L2 blockchain rolls out soonest. 

“We are in the process of deploying the second private Alpha TestNet, which will ultimately be used for network testing, and the development of all the tools required for end-user interaction such as Wallets, Block Explorers, token transfer bridges, etc.,” Unification said. 

Shibarium Nears Completion

Per the announcement, once Unification has finished developing these features and put everything in place, it will invite some private testers to ensure things will work smoothly. 

Notably, the feedback obtained from the private testing will be used to develop and improve the network’s tools before releasing a “public Beta TestNet.”  

Recall that Shytoshi Kusama, Shiba Inu’s lead developer, had announced last year that the team behind the dog-themed project had partnered with Unification to develop the Shibarium layer two solutions. 

The development has been made available only to the Unification and Shiba Inu team. The public is expected to glimpse the much anticipated layer-2 blockchain when the public testnet is unveiled. 

Shibarium is part of the initiatives being developed by Shiba Inu to transition the project from a meme coin to a utility token. The network is tipped to introduce fast and low-cost transactions to optimize gaming.

Unification Team further said:

“There is currently a lot of hard work occurring in the background on Shibarium, with many moving pieces. We are in the process of deploying the second private Alpha TestNet, which will ultimately be used for network testing and the development of all the tools required…

For end-user interaction such as Wallets, Block Explorers, token transfer bridges, etc. Once these are developed and in place, some private invitations will go out to trusted testers.
The feedback will be used to build on and improve the network and tools before finally releasing a public Beta TestNet.”

2 Billion Shiba Inu Burnt Within 7 Days, 185 Million In 24 hours

Zabi
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2 Billion Shiba Inu Burnt Within 7 Days, 185 Million In 24 hours

Over 1.99 Billion Shiba Inu (SHIB) Burnt Within 7 Days.



Over 1.99 billion Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens have been taken out of circulation within the last seven days, and over 185.39 million SHIB during the previous 24 hours.

Shibburn.com recently reported 62 transactions towards the dead wallet during the last week, through which community-led burning initiatives have burned a total of 1,992,393,933 (1.99B) dog-themed tokens.

Top SHIB Burner of the Week:

Two newly emerged tokens, ScareCrow (SHIB Protector) and 1Cent contributed the largest share and appeared to be the top SHIB burner of the week.

ScareCrow (SHIB Protector) Auto-Burn Mechanism:

ScareCrow (SHIB Protector), a new token supporting SHIB burn, uses a unique auto-burn mechanism to burn SHIB. The token applies a 3% Buy Tax, 8% Normal Sell Tax, and 25% Early Sell Tax on holders that sell Scarecrow tokens within 24 hours of buying. ScareCrow automatically uses the taxed amount to buy SHIB and burns whenever someone buys or sells tokens.

On Saturday, the ScareCrow auto-burn mechanism did magic and sent 1,248,074,298 (1.24B) SHIB tokens to dead wallets through 10 separate transactions as per data provided by Shib Burn.

1Cent Weekly Burn Event:

1Cent is another newly emerged token that supports SHIB burn. 1Cent has organized an official Weekly SHIB Burn Event on 4th April 2022. Through this event, the team behind the newly emerged token had sent a total of 161,397,653 (161.397M) SHIB to the dead wallet in one transaction.

The “1Cent” token is just four weeks old, and since its inception, the project claims to send 1,166,115,610 (1.16B) Shiba Inu tokens to the dead wallet, permanently taking them out of circulation.

Past 24 Hour Burn:

Besides weekly burn, 185,395,244 (185.39M) SHIB tokens have been reportedly sent to dead wallets through 16 separate transactions by the community-led burning initiatives.

Current Circulating Supply:

As per data provided by Shibburn.com, a total of 410,311,870,766,853 (410.31T) Shiba Inu has been taken out of circulation forever from the initial supply of 1 quadrillion tokens. At the same time, 39,272,772,415,210 (39.27B) of SHIB has been staked by holders on ShibaSwap. In this way, the current circulating supply of SHIB comes out to be 550,415,356,817,936 (550.41T) tokens.

Current SHIB Price:

At the time of writing, Shiba Inu is trading at $0.00002437, down -1.13% over the last day. A 24-hour trading volume for the popular dog-themed cryptocurrency is up 17.67% compared to the previous day and currently stands at $631,048,409 ($631.04M).

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